Rookie romper room: Kenneth Walker, Tariq Woolen, Seahawks defense(!) beat Cardinals 19-9
Rookie Kenneth Walker running not only like Rashaad Penny, but like Chris Carson before him.
Darrell Taylor awakening as a forceful pass rusher. The Seahawks finally pressuring the quarterback like they redesigned their defense to do.
Tariq Woolen continuing his remarkable rookie season with another interception, and a fumble recovery.
And quarterback Geno Smith not having to win a game almost by himself.
What’s this? Finally playing the way coach Pete Carroll wants, led by defense?
That’s what Sunday was.
“Yeah, yeah. This was the first game,” Carroll said of the 2022 season. “This was much more in line.”
Walker’s relieving, 97 yards rushing starting for the out-for-the-year Penny, the sudden emergence of Seattle’s previously absent pass rush with six sacks of Kyler Murray, plus Woolen’s latest big plays and three stops of the Cardinals on fourth down in Seattle’s end of the field were why the Seahawks beat Arizona 19-9 on a sunny, 80-degree October afternoon at Lumen Field.
“It looked good. It felt good,” Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs said.
“It felt different.”
It was.
This last-ranked Seattle defense produced a 19-9(!) win. The unit that had allowed 84 points and 958 yards the previous two games held the Cardinals, who were averaging 21 points per game coming in, to three points offensively. Arizona’s depleted running backs gained just 44 yards on 18 carries.
Because of the pass rush, Seattle stopped 12 of the Cardinals’ 16 chances on third downs.
“It just felt like us, honestly. Felt like that’s what we should have been doing,” inside linebacker and defensive signal caller Jordyn Brooks said after his game-high 11 tackles.
“I’m proud of the way our defense played today. I think it’s a great momentum shift for us. Great building block to keep going, keep progressing through the season.
“Yeah, we made some adjustments,” Brooks said, chiefly emphasizing pressure on the middle on Murray, to hem him in a pocket that often collapsed upon him.
“But I think the biggest thing we did is we just kind of all owned up. ...Guys took it personally today. “Especially the defensive line.
“You see why they ate the way they did today.
“We challenged ourselves. There was a mutual understanding that, man, we’ve got to get our stuff together.”
Multiple defensive players said their coordinator Clint Hurtt, the former line coach who still coaches and drives the big bodies up front in particular, challenged them this past week after Seattle’s meltdowns in Detroit and New Orleans, and against the run against Atlanta and San Francisco before that.
Presto!
Even without injured nose tackle and captain Al Woods, the Seahawks’ line of the 3-4 defense controlled much of Sunday’s game. Ends Shelby Harris and Poona Ford and third-down inside rusher Quinton Jefferson each had a sack, half the Seahawks’ six. Previously non-existent Darrell Taylor had one, and spent much of the day in Murray’s face on third down.
The Cardinals (2-4) had little more than designed runs and scrambles by the dynamic Murray for offense. He gained 100 yards on 10 runs, and threw for 222 before the six sacks.
Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu said the plan Sunday was to “stop the run, have some fun.” That is, pass rushing in long yardage with the crowd roaring against the opposing offense.
In that sense, it felt and sounded a bit like the Seahawks’ Super Bowl seasons, with a pass rush controlling the game and result inside Lumen Field.
“We always want to rush the passer here at Lumen. We always want to take advantage of the crowd and the noise,” Carroll said. “That’s exactly what happened. That was coming together with the crowd and our guys really being able to recognize the benefits of that.
“That’s happened for years around here.”
But not lately. Not until Sunday.
The Seahawks (3-3) next head to play the Chargers in southern California, while having the same record as San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams atop the NFC West. The 49ers lead the division, having beaten Seattle and L.A. The Seahawks have one game remaining with the Niners and two yet to play against the Rams.
“Everybody in the division is the same. So we are starting all over again,” Carroll said.
“You can look at that a lot of ways. I am looking at it like we are in first place. I’m fired up to have, after we’ve been through what we’ve been through, to be in that position. Feel fortunate.”
Ken Walker romps
Sunday was why the Seahawks drafted Walker in the second round this spring.
Walker showed the speed and even swagger he had last season setting records for Michigan State. He high-stepped into the clear and skipped playfully past a flailing Cardinal en route to the end zone on his 11-yard touchdown run. That put Seattle up 19-9 early in the fourth quarter.
Walker’s running and all the defense — the Seahawks denied Arizona 12 times on 16 third downs — meant Smith could be merely mortal instead of the NFL’s leading passer he’s been early this season.
Smith completed 20 of 31 passes for 197 yards. He got sacked five times behind his previously stonewalling offensive line. The Seahawks offense that had scored 80 points its previous two games failed to score a touchdown until the fourth quarter Sunday.
Rookie cornerbacks strike again
Carroll’s decision in mid-August to go all in with rookie cornerbacks Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant in key spots of the defense continues to pay off.
Murray had the Cardinals rolling toward the game’s first touchdown late in the third quarter. The elusive quarterback took off running on third and 6 on a scramble into open field.
But with Murray still running, Bryant came up from his nickel cornerback coverage and ripped the ball from the unaware quarterback. Woolen chased the ball down the field and recovered the fumble at the Seattle 19.
Seattle’s lead stayed at 12-3.
With Arizona trying frantically to rally with 4 minutes left, Woolen leaped with receiver Marquise Brown and pulled down a contested interception, effectively ending the game.
Woolen ran through the south end zone to celebrate with the roaring Seahawks fans. Then he did a short victory line slapping every hand across the front of the section of stands.
Through five games, Woolen has four interceptions. That’s one short of the team record for a rookie over an entire season. He’s returned one of those for a touchdown, in Detroit this month. He also has the fumble recovery Sunday, and a blocked field goal teammate Michael Jackson returned for an 86-yard touchdown for Seattle’s only points in a loss at San Francisco.
He’s the first Seahawk to intercept passes in four consecutive games since Brandon Browner did it in 2011. He’s only the third rookie in the NFL to do it since 2000.
His four interceptions for Seattle are two more than he had in his college career at Texas-San Antonio, which moved him from wide receiver to cornerback in 2019.
The 6-foot-4 Woolen entered the weekend with one of the lowest passer ratings against for an NFL cornerback, 35.8.
“I hope they keep trying him,” Brooks said of opposing quarterbacks.
He laughed.
“The guy, he’s just naturally gifted. He doesn’t give up any touches, man,” Brooks said. “He don’t even know what he’s doing half the time. He’s just playing on raw talent right now. ...
“I hope they keep trying him. And we’ll keep getting the picks.”
Yes, Carroll’s dice roll of starting another converted college wide receiver, like Richard Sherman — but from week one (instead of the middle of the season as with Sherman a decade ago) — is working for the Seahawks.
Wondrously.
Thanks, Kliff Kingsbury
The Cardinals’ fourth-year head coach twice opted to go for first downs on fourth and 4 and fourth and 2 while in range of field goals in Seahawks territory.
That’s because Arizona was without injured kicker Matt Prater. Fill-in Matt Ammendola didn’t exactly endear himself to Kingbury when he missed an extra point after the Cardinals’ only touchdown.
Plus, Arizona’s coach likely was thinking how bad Seattle’s defense looked on film preparing for this game, and assuming the Cardinals would be down in scoring range many more times whether they made the fourth downs or not.
On the first play of the second quarter, Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray had receiver Rondale Moore open in front of Seattle safety Ryan Neal but skipped his pass too low off the turf incomplete from the Seahawks 20.
On Arizona’s first possession of the third quarter, Kingsbury kept Murray and the Cardinals offense on the field for fourth and 2 from the Seattle 27. Murray dropped back to pass, then had a running lane to get the first down inside deep-rushing Taylor. Murray chose to throw. No one was open, and his pass into coverage and the end zone had no chance for a completion.
Instead of running Murray at the NFL’s worst running defense entering Sunday, the Cardinals had Murray throw.
Those two turnovers on downs were the difference in the game midway through the third quarter, when Seattle led 9-3.
“We dominated those plays,” Carroll said.
Seahawks pass rush awakens
The Seahawks’ defense got enough pressure on Murray passing to make Arizona one-dimensional over the game’s first 30 minutes.
Sacks by Uchenna Nowsu, after Murray had to step away from a looping stunt by defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson on third down, Ryan Neal unblocked on a safety blitz and Taylor off the left edge late in the first half, kept the Cardinals to three points and 63 net yards passing into the third quarter.
The three sacks in the half matched Seattle’s season high for an entire game.
Yes, this was the same Seahawks defense that entered Sunday last in the NFL in total defense and had allowed 84 points to the Lions and Saints the previous two weekends.
The Cardinals gained just 14 yards in the second quarter. That’s when the score went from tied to 9-3 Seahawks on three short field goals by Jason Myers.
Yet Smith and the Seahawks’ offense didn’t take off early Sunday as they did against Detroit and New Orleans.
A holding penalty on Charles Cross ruined one Seattle possession. Walker was twice dropped in the backfield on third-and-2 runs in which multiple Cardinals went unblocked.
That’s why Seahawks drives to the Arizona 9- and 15-yard lines ended with field goals instead of touchdowns — and why Seattle’s lead was only 9-3 despite the defense’s uprising in the first half.
Punt problems persist
The Seahawks gave the Cardinals the game’s first touchdown, late in the third quarter.
And this time, it wasn’t Seattle’s defense.
Seahawk Michael Dickson lined up to punt from his own end zone after a backwards three-and-out by the offense followed a Cardinals turnover. Arizona called a punt block. Half the state of Arizona ran in unblocked at Dickson. The most egregious free rusher was former Washington Husky Ezekiel Turner. He ran untouched up the middle gap at Dickson into the end zone. That is normally the responsibility of the punter’s personal protector directly in front of him to recognize and block.
But Seattle’s Cullen Gillaspia did neither. He appeared to be pulling, in a different kind of protection scheme.
Besieged, Dickson pulled the ball down trying to get past the first wave of Cardinals so he could then punt the ball. They hit him before he could. Dickson lost the ball on the hit. Arizona’s Chris Banjo recovered the fumble in the middle of the end zone for the touchdown.
Seattle’s lead was 12-9 entering the final quarter.
It was the Seahawks’ second fouled-up punt in as many games. Last week Dickson failed to punt on a call for a running, rugby-style kick. The Saints tackled him for a turnover on downs deep in Seattle’s end, a gift set up of a New Orleans touchdown in the Seahawks’ 39-32 loss.
Shaun Alexander into Seahawks’ Ring of Honor
This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 4:16 PM.
